Nov 14 Oracle to buy Santa Monica office for highest ever price/SF

In the priciest-ever per-square-foot deal in Santa Monica’s booming office market, Oracle is in contract to pay Invesco $368 million, or $1,165 per square foot, for an office building at 2700 Colorado Avenue, The Real Deal has learned.

Larry Ellison’s cloud-computing firm will move into the building, taking north of 100,000 square feet, sources said. The 316,000-square, five-story building is anchored by Lions Gate Entertainment, which occupies about 159,000 square feet, according to CoStar data. Sources said the entertainment company, which is itself looking for more Santa Monica office space after acquiring the cable network Starz, received notice this week of the building’s new ownership.

Rents at the property were not disclosed, but asking rates in Santa Monica average about $5.50 a square foot a month. Invesco made a hefty profit on the building, which it acquired last year for $284 million, or $899 per square foot, according to CoStar.

Oracle’s acquisition, when completed, is set to be the priciest-ever per-square-foot purchase in Santa Monica. The previous record for a building above 10,000 square feet was held by the SeaRise office tower at 233 Wilshire Boulevard, according to CBRE data. In September, Douglas Emmett acquired that property for $1,124 per square foot.

Artisan Partners’ $400 million acquisition of the Lantana office complex, which TRD first reported, clocked in at about $825 a foot, while Boston Properties paid $929 a foot for its $511 million purchase of a stake in the Colorado Center.

Oracle just signed a lease expansion at Santa Monica’s Water Garden, upsizing to 175,000 square feet from 90,000 square feet. It will occupy both that building and 2700 Colorado, sources said. The company completed its $9.3 billion acquisition of financial cloud software firm NetSuite on Monday.

Invesco, which is based in Atlanta, Ga., is a major Westside landlord. The firm acquired the Runway at Playa Vista from Lincoln Property Company for $475 million earlier this year.